Trump Blames Jews for Anti-Semitic Attacks

Editor: Donald Trump apparently suggested that Jews might be calling in bomb threats to JCCs and desecrating gravestones with the expectation that it would be blamed on Trump supporters and be seen as evidence that the supporters are anti-Semitic.

When asked on Tuesday about the recent wave of anti-Semitic threats and property destruction, President Donald Trump allegedly said that “sometimes it’s the reverse.”

The remark was made to a gathering of state attorneys general, according to Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro. “He just said, ‘Sometimes it’s the reverse, to make people—or to make others—look bad,’ and he used the word ‘reverse’ I would say two or three times in his comments,” Shapiro said. “He did say at the top that it was reprehensible.” He added that the remarks “didn’t make a whole lot of sense to me.”

The Anti-Defamation League also questioned Trump’s reported remarks:
“We are astonished by what the President reportedly said. It is incumbent upon the White House to immediately clarify these remarks. In light of the ongoing attacks on the Jewish community, it is also incumbent upon the President to lay out in his speech tonight his plans for what the federal government will do to address this rash of anti-Semitic incidents,” Jonathan Greenblatt, CEO of ADL, said in a statement.

The Anne Frank Center for Mutual Respect released a statement.
“Mr. President, have you no decency?” Steven Goldstein, the nonprofit’s executive director, said in a statement. “To cast doubt on the authenticity of Anti-Semitic hate crimes in America constitutes Anti-Semitism in itself, and that’s something none of us ever dreamed would disgrace our nation from the White House. If the reports are true, you owe the American Jewish community an apology.”

Later the same day, in his speech to Congress, President Trump said:

Tonight, as we mark the conclusion of our celebration of Black History Month, we are reminded of our Nation’s path toward civil rights and the work that still remains. Recent threats targeting Jewish Community Centers and vandalism of Jewish cemeteries, as well as last week’s shooting in Kansas City, remind us that while we may be a Nation divided on policies, we are a country that stands united in condemning hate and evil in all its forms.